Latest, greatest, recommendations…

[jrk]

Hello everyone…hope all are enjoying the Christmas Holliday.

Been a little while since I’ve been on the site, and jumped on to buy some new strops, but thought I’d try and catch up with whatever might be new/improved.

I purchased the Field and Sport Pro back in latter part of 2017.  I believe this came with the generation 3 vice, as there is a single main lever at the lower center to clamp the blade.

Any changes to what I have now?…new vices, etc.?

Also, I currently have some diamond stones up to 1000, and jump from this to strops.  Would you guys recommend a finer grit to apply after the 1000 and prior to the strop?  If so, diamond or ceramic?

 

Thanks

[Marc H]

jrk, happy holidays to you too, and welcome back to the forum.

The latest version Gen 3 Vise now has a tension adjuster in the base facing towards the rear.  You didn’t mention if your vise included that feature.  That replacement vise is available if you desire to upgrade.  It does improve clamping tension when needed.  Also, an optional jaw set that allows clamping thicker knives is available for that newest Gen 3 vise.  Be aware that there are two model Gen 3 vise upgrades…check with W.E. before ordering to be sure you get the correct vise version for your base mount and all the parts you’ll need.  Also, there are upgrade kits, for the vises, including new guide rods and the new mini “L” brackets and rod ball ends.

There are now 1500, 2200, and 3000 grit diamond stones.  These will give you a keener, more refined sharpened knife edge while taking you closer to a mirror polished appearance.  When these finer grit stones are used properly in combination with at least a two grit stropping regimen I find my edge sharpness is markedly enhanced.  These finer grit diamond stones don’t require but a few knives worth of sharpening with them till they’re broken in and yield optimal results.

I’m not a frequent user of my ceramic stones.  But when I choose to use a ceramic in my sharpening progression I prefer the micro-fine pair.  This ceramic set has one white stone and one dark grey stone mounted on a blue/white handle.  I prefer the results I achieve from the micro-fine set over the super-fine ceramic set.  Both ceramics sets do require a pretty good amount of use to break these stones in well.

Around 2017 W.E. introduced slightly larger diameter guide rods than the original diameter rod.  This improved the tolerance between the sharpening stones and the paddles by removing some of the slop or sideways movement.  They also introduced a new style plastic stone handle.  The old original paddles/handles are brown with a black center finger hold portion.  The newer style handles are bi-colored with no black portions.  The combination of the new guide rods and the new paddles does remove much of the slop we experienced between the paddles and the guide rods with the earlier version parts.

Earlier this year, W.E. released their new version micro-angle adjusters and locking setup parts.  All the new model W.E. sharpeners being sold include these updated/upgraded version parts, standard.  I’d verify when placing any new orders for upgraded parts or upgrade part kits that these include all these newer improved parts, too.  The full compliment of all these new version parts used in conjunction is the best way to go.

This is the latest Gen 3 Vise.  The only difference between your Field and Sport and this WE130 is the base mount and new upgraded parts:

Marc
(MarcH's Rack-Its)

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